organizing my thoughts here because 1) accountability, 2) the drag and drop to rearrange paragraphs function is actually kinda peak, so
LONGING OF OUR PASTS
(aka LOOP, a kpdh reincarnated soulmates au)
headcanon bible
note: no one has to follow all (or even any) of these if they choose to create anything in a reincarnation and/or soulmates au of kpdh; i do not own or claim the concept of a 'reincarnation kdrama romance' au, nor the concept of a 'rujinu soulmates' au, but i wanted to create a solid and fleshed out 'sandbox' to play in if folks want to, like the big aus for homestuck, miraculous ladybug, mlp:fim, etc
this 'bible' is only intended to keep myself oriented in the process of writing my own fic. but if you want to use the names / characters / relationships / life events i came up with (so like, the archer in the gen1 hunter trio being named sungji and jinus sister biasing her, NOT like rumis mom being called miyoung because thats canon from the movie), please feel free to! i only ask that you just include a link back to this post in whatever you upload that was inspired by it, because i have put SO MUCH RESEARCH AND EFFORT into this silly little pretend make believe story. also maybe shoot me a link to whatever you create because i wanna seeeeeee
JULY 3 2025 EDIT: also my deepest apologies for accidentally publishing this before it was ready. theres still some things i need to figure out, like names for the rest of the gen1 hunters, names for jinus parents, etc, but like... i thought i had entirely lost this post when i couldnt find it in my drafts the other day, so im just glad i didnt lose all that work. anyway, if anything is culturally inaccurate, please tell me so i can fix it; i know so little about joseon era, korean naming conventions, etc and i want to know more
table of contents
the most important aspect of zs reincarnated soulmate au
name meanings and pronunciation guide
things that are canon to this fic
things z did not make up, that are canon to the movie
secret bonus content
1. the most important aspect of zs reincarnated soulmate au:
rumi and jinu are romantic endgame soulmates. there will be a happy ending for them (and for their loved ones)
spoiler warning for kpop demon hunters below the cut
also content warning for mentions of canon-typical violence, brief suicidal ideation, and major character death (not suicide)
2. name meanings and pronunciation guide
gwima: 귀마, 'gwi' 鬼 ghost / demon / sinister, 'ma' 魔 devil / fiend / unnatural; vowel sounds rhyme with 'weed moss', with the w having an almost h aspect to it, and almost no oo at the beginning of the w sound
also, unlike all the other names on this list, im confident that this hanja reading is canon because the word for demon ghost / devil / satan / evil spirit is 'magwi' 마귀 (魔鬼) so they would have just swapped the characters around
jinu: 진우, 'jin' 珍 precious / treasure / rare, 'u' 愚 foolish / stupid / fool JUST KIDDING, 'u' 佑 assist / help / protect, sounds like 'jeen ooh' just like in the movie
named this way because his father was a farmer and his mother hoped he would grow up strong and able to help out
i picked this reading because he was a precious protector to rumi
eunjung: 은정, 'eun' 恩 mercy / favor / grace + 'jeong' 貞 pure / virtuous / faithful; vowel sounds rhyme with 'good just'
named this way because her parents hoped she would grow up kind and gentle and be a dutiful daughter
i picked this name because she was so faithful to jinu that she even got herself reincarnated for another chance at saving him
sungji: 성지, 'seong' 聖 noble / holy / sacred, 'ji' 知 knowledge / understanding / wisdom; vowel sounds rhyme with 'but beet', sounds like the english words 'sung gee'
given this name to bless her with a steady mind as she carries out her noble mission
i picked this name as a tribute to han jisung honestly, but also because she wasnt the 'leader' of the first hunters, but she was the ranged fighter, so she would probably be more of a strategist than the rest
miyoung: 미영, 'mi' 美 beauty / beautiful / pretty, 'yeong' 永 eternity / forever / permanent; vowel sounds rhyme with 'beet but', sounds like the english words 'me young'
named this way for the lasting beauty a shaman predicted she would bring to the world. tragically, due to her losing her life at a young age, she is in a way permanently at her most beautiful
i did not come up with this name, it came from the flashback to the gravestone, but i chose this reading because i like the irony of her name including 'forever' instead of the more common reading of 'flower petals' (英) because yknow... she died young
jinjoo: 진주, 'jin' 珍 precious / treasure / rare, ju 珠 pearl; vowel sounds rhyme with 'sheep shoe', just like jinus name does
same generational name as her brother, but with the hope that she would grow up beautiful and resilient in spite of her struggles in life, like a pearl forming because of sand and grit
i chose this because of the pearlescent colors of rumis ultimate-form demon stripes and huntrixs 'what it sounds like' outfits, because i think it hits harder if the three of them reminded jinu of his little sister in that moment and thats why he chose to be self-sacrificing instead of selfish, to try to make up for failing his sister back then
3. things that are canon to this fic
things about huntrix and the sunlight sisters
rumis mother was named miyoung because a shaman predicted before she was born that she would bring about a beauty in the world that would last forever [see section 2]. this was commonly interpreted by fans of the sunlight sisters as being about her music, as she was the primary songwriter of the trio, but amongst the hunters, it was taken as proof that they would be the generation that would succeed in turning the honmoon gold (it actually was a prophecy about her future daughter, but thats the thing about prophecy, you cant know whether or not you are interpreting it correctly until it happens. quantum uncertainty or whatever)
ryu miyoung [see section 4] went by 'ryumi' with her friends ever since she was a preteen, because there were usually at least two other miyoungs in her classes (the other sunlight sisters would usually just call her 'unnie' though). only her family and romantic partners ever called her 'miyoung'. her stage name was aurora (the third sunlight sisters stage name was stella)
miyoung met the man who would be her future husband, byungho (병호, 'byeong' 炳 bright / luminous / glorious, 'ho' 昊 vast sky, vowel sounds rhyme with 'yum oh'), at an airport when a fan pushed her off-balance and she fell into his arms (he was disguised as a bodyguard, and was intending to kidnap the sunlight sisters, but he fell for miyoung immediately upon making eye contact with her, and was done for when she smiled and gratefully thanked him for saving her. absolute anime meet-cute moment)
celine was secretly in love with miyoung, and as she watched miyoung get closer and closer with byungho, hated him more and more every day because of it, even without knowing or even suspecting that he was a demon. but, what with celine being a pro idol, you would never know it
after a few years of reliably guarding the sunlight sisters, byungho was promoted from bodyguard to manager. whenever gwima asked him what was taking so long to follow through on his plan to defeat the hunters once and for all, he would insist that they didnt yet trust him enough
when miyoungs engagement with her manager and former bodyguard was announced to the public, the majority of sunlight sisters fans were overjoyed because of an enormous fan theory that all the love songs miyoung wrote were about someone she worked closely with (before the airport incident, she had never written a love song, only girl power songs, with one exception: a song called 'yearning' that was about wishing to find ones soulmate, and that was only ever performed live, never officially released. she sang it at her wedding as well, but it is now considered lost media)
when the sunlight sisters discovered that byungho was a demon, stella was convinced there was a way to use their powers to purify his soul. celine, on the other hand, was furious, feeling like she had been betrayed by both stella and miyoung. this was the beginning of the end for the sunlight sisters, as the trust was, from celines perspective at least, irrevocably broken (how could she trust someone to have her back while fighting demons, when that same someone chose to marry a demon)
celine is a reincarnation of the first generation hunter with the hat. she betrayed the hunter with the bow and arrow so deeply that she had to be reincarnated as her caregiver and face being abandoned by the child she raised poorly
the first time rumi had her patterns appear was after the idol awards celine took her to as a child (where she wore the ruffly pink dress, and the idol awards logo was gold on black with a star) because that was the first time she felt real shame over who she was. some comment about her moms passing made her feel like it was her fault, and if she hadnt been born, the world would still have the sunlight sisters
things about the first hunters and rumis past life
the first generation of hunters were born around the same time as the first humans were fully turned into demons by gwima. they were meant to save human souls from shame and despair (aka gwima) by igniting them with hope and love, and the honmoon was supposed to be a gate they could pass through at will (like everyones favorite tiger and magpie can) to save human souls from gwima, not a fortress to keep demons out of the world. in fact, the golden honmoon was never going to permanently seal all demons away, because demons are a natural part of the world; it was going to make it easier for the hunters to enter (and exit) the underworld. the problem was not with dokkaebi and jeoseung saja and all the other demons interacting with humans, the problem was with gwima forcing them to steal human souls for him to consume, which kept those human souls from being reincarnated (think billionaires hoarding wealth instead of that wealth circulating freely in the economy)
in her past life, roughly 400 years ago, rumi was the hunter with the bow and arrow, in the very first hunter trio. her birth name was eunjung, but when she left her village to train as a hunter, she was given a 'stage name' to protect her family. this name was sungji
eunjungs best friend growing up was a boy four years younger than her, named jinu, who would always follow her around and play his bipa while she sang. sometimes he would even sing with her
when sungji and her fellow hunters saved a gisaeng house from a demon attack, one of the noblemen who had been visiting the house invited the hunters to live at the castle
one day, the king heard a rumor that there was a bipa player with an incredibly beautiful voice in a certain village, nearly skilled enough to rival any one of the hunters themselves in terms of performance. the king summoned the hunters to a private meeting to tell them of this rumor, suspecting that such a voice must belong to a demon if it truly compared to the power of a hunters song. when sungji admitted that the village in question was actually her hometown, the king ordered that this performer be found and brought before him. if that village could produce a singer as incredible as sungji, then maybe this bipa player was worth adopting into the kings circle of entertainers (especially since the hunters had to travel the land fighting demons, and thus were absent from the castle as often as not)
the bipa player was brought to the castle while the hunters were on a mission fighting demons, and when they returned, eunjung and jinu finally reconnected, quickly shifting from childhood friends to secretly courting each other
jinu kept sungjis past as eunjung hidden (as much as he could, but the more demonic he became, the more access gwima had to his thoughts, knowledge, and memories) and she tried her best to keep their blossoming relationship from the other hunters so as to not let them think she had a priority greater than that of demon hunting
jinu only ever asked sungji for one favor: to protect his family in his stead if they were ever again threatened by demons (he couldnt admit to her that he was the threat he was most afraid of)
one of sungjis biggest fans, ever since the hunters saved her and her mother from a demon attack in the middle of the night, was a widowed farmers daughter named jinjoo
jinjoo had lost her brother to royal servitude only months before the attack that introduced her to sungji and the other hunters
sungji was jinjoos bias because she taught her how to shoot a bow and arrow the day after the thwarted demon attack, so she could protect herself and her mom while her brother was away serving the king (it was jinjoos request and she would not take no for an answer)
things about jinu and his family, prior to his deal with gwima
as a child, jinu had a puppy love crush on a village girl four years older than him, eunjung, who had a voice like magic, even from childhood. he started studying the bipa at a young age to impress her, because he knew he would never be as good at singing as she was, but he was still her dedicated accompanist for all her performances in the village, playing his instrument and occasionally singing harmonies for her
jinu was ten years old when his father died defending his family in a demon raid (i truly do not care if that is ten international years or if he was ten by korean age reckoning, it doesnt make any functional difference, i just feel like a ten year age difference between him and his sister makes sense and will be easily remembered) and about half a year later, his younger sister was born. the first time he heard gwimas voice was the first time he visited his fathers burial site with his heavily pregnant mother, realizing that he would never be able to carry the weight his father left behind
when eunjung came of age, she was 'discovered' by a traveling merchant who told her family that she was good enough to sing before the king (the 'merchant' who took her in was actually a shaman who had seen a vision of how to defeat the demon king, and was searching for performers who could ignite souls). jinu was heartbroken to see her leave their village, but also proud of her, so he worked hard from then on, determined to someday be able to be by her side again and accompany her with his bipa in a performance fit for royalty
but as much as jinu wanted to focus on music, he still had to help his mother tend to their farm and help raise his baby sister. they lived a modest life for a few years, but when their family farm was destroyed in another demon raid, jinu started performing with his bipa in the local village. it was such a small and poor population, though, that it didnt do much to support his family. still, he stubbornly refused to pursue any other career path, determined to succeed with his music so that he could someday be reunited with his first love
jinu rejected gwimas offers for years before he finally gave in when he told him that a reunion with his first love would be possible if he lived at the castle
things about jinu during his enslavement to gwima
jinu was not the first human to make a deal with the devil, and he was certainly not the last, but he was one of the early ones. as far as demons who used to be human goes, hes considered a 'senior in the industry' for sure
jinus voice was not a gift from gwima, all gwima did to get jinu into the kings good graces was to send a few demons to kill and replace some palace guards, and have them talk about an incredible performer in a certain village where the king could overhear. jinus voice was so good because he grew up singing with eunjung (which was effectively like jogging every day with weights on your ankles)
the castle jinu moved to, after his deal with gwima, was actually pretty far from his home village, and the memory of his sister holding his hand at the castle gates as guards pointed weapons at her and his mom was originally a nightmare he had on his first night away from home, traveling with disguised demons (eventually, gwimas manipulation and memory modification would convince him it was real). in reality, he left his family under cover of night after kissing his sister on the forehead while she slept. his mom knew that he was going to perform music for the king on a long-term basis, but not that the noblemen who told her this were demons in disguise
at the castle, during the first festival he was able to attend there, he met the hunters, and despite having been out of touch for years, he immediately recognized the magical voice of his first love
jinu was still mostly human when the first honmoon was created. it was weak and fragile, but it managed to quiet the voices in his head for the first time since he had lost his father. whenever the honmoon was at its weakest, gwimas voice in his head was at its strongest. for the first few years, the hunters didnt know how often the honmoon needed to be restrengthened. eventually, it was discovered that it had to be reinforced at least once a year, with the support of as many people as possible. this was done at the castle in the form of a festival where the hunters would perform for the king (and for the people, of course)
the hunters had to travel often, but whenever they returned to the castle, jinu and eunjung would try to steal private moments together. he taught her how to play the bipa and she told him stories from her travels
jinu tried his best to hide his spreading patterns, but he knew that it was doomed to fail sooner or later. he knew that eventually he would lose his humanity entirely and become a demon just like the ones that had destroyed his home, killed his father, and fought the hunters. so one night, after trying to tell her the truth but chickening out at the last moment, he asked sungji to do all she could to protect his mother and sister
one night, right before a honmoon reinforcement performance, jinu saw his family in the crowd, and gwima took advantage of the weak honmoon to convince him that he was a failure of a son for abandoning them to chase a silly childhood romance, with someone whos entire life was dedicated to hunting and vanquishing monsters like him. he pushed his buttons until he snapped, losing himself in a demonic rage
that was the first time jinu and the hunters met each other on either side of a battle, and he nearly killed one of the hunters before sungji, who recognized the bracelet she had tied onto on his wrist the night before she left their village, threw herself into his arms, begging him to come back to his senses
this did not go over well with the other hunters, who did not recognize that the demon was jinu, but who had already been suspicious of him in the first place just because of how he always tried to get sungji to come out on her own with him
the honmoon ritual the next night nearly failed because sungji was preoccupied worrying about jinu
when jinu next saw eunjung, with the honmoon freshly restored and his senses returned to him, he apologized for hiding the truth from her. already full of regret and shame over his cowardice, and expecting to never see her again because a born demon hunter and someone who chose demonhood could never be together, eunjungs earnest forgiveness overwhelmed him with guilt, giving gwima a chance to break through even the fully powered honmoon and dig his claws into him once more. he lashed out in a blind rage, seriously (but not permanently) injuring eunjung, and when he saw the fear in her face, he vanished, arriving at the foot of gwimas mausoleum
gwima tortured jinu for his defiance and corrupted his memories of everything that meant anything to him; his father (what a disappointment you must be to him, abandoning your family like that. though perhaps they are better off without a leech like you who wont do the hard work your father did, only chasing fame and glory and comfort), his childhood friendship with eunjung (no wonder she abandoned you as soon as she could. youve always been selfish. even if you werent a demon, you would still have to share her with the world. she has a duty. but you wouldnt know anything about duty, would you. you just do whatever you want, regardless who it hurts), and his time at the palace (you should feel ashamed of yourself for enjoying all this comfort while your mother and sister starve)
when gwima was satisfied that jinus spirit had been thoroughly broken, he offered him a single mercy: 'i can make you forget all of it. no more regret, no more guilt, no more suffering. all you have to do is bring me the soul of a hunter, and i will make all this pain go away'
jinu agreed (because torture will do that, eventually the tortured person will agree to anything just to escape the agony) and was sent back to the surface, just in time for the preparations for the next honmoon ritual festival. in broad daylight, fully demonic in appearance, looking out of his mind. the hunters were summoned immediately, and sungji was the first to arrive. jinu fell to his knees and begged her for her help, forehead to the ground. while the other hunters watched uneasily, ready to attack him if he made a single wrong move, sungji brought him someplace private
jinu told her everything he had been through, and she held him through reliving it all. she promised to help him, to free him from gwimas clutches no matter what it took
'he wants me to give him your soul... but how could i take something so precious?' 'my soul is already yours, along with my heart. it always has been. i have always belonged to you, and you have always belonged to me. how else do you think we were brought back together like this? we must be fated to be together' 'do you really think so?' 'if it isnt so already, i will reshape our fates with my own two hands and make it so. no force in the universe could ever keep me from you'
the next day, the hunters and jinu decide to take the fight to gwima. mostly eunjung convincing the other two while jinu tries to hide the guilt and shame and worry filling his head. the hunters (and jinu) pass through to the underworld through the door they created, and they even manage to rally some demons to their side, reminding them of the time before gwima started using them as his servants, but even with their support, it does not go well. one of the hunters (not the one with the hat) is consumed by gwima, and jinu (along with the other sympathetic demons) puts himself in the way so the other two can escape back to the human world
when they are back in the human world, eunjung calls for the shaman who trained them, but the other hunter (the one with the hat) slices her throat 'so that gwima wont be able to steal your soul. i hope, in your next life, you know better than to trust a demon'. she holds her as she dies, weeping over needing to kill someone she once trusted with her life. the shaman arrives, the only living hunter says that they were betrayed by the demon from sungjis village, and sungji and the other hunter are given burial rites, even though they only have sungjis body
months later, after more torture, jinu makes his way back to the human world by following a pair of spirit messengers (its the only way for him to pass through before the honmoon grows weak again, because he cant pass through a strong honmoon without the hunters) but when he finds the gravestone with the name sungji carved into it, he falls into despair, guilt, shame, misery, etc. gwima offers to erase jinus memories in exchange for the soul he brought him. jinu, who would rather be dead in the ground alongside his love than listen to another word from gwima, tries to tear his own throat open, but despite his sharp claws, he can do no harm to himself. gwimas laughter is mocking 'you think you can end your own life? you belong to me. you die when i allow it. not before. but... since you did bring me a hunters soul... my offer still stands. i will let you forget her. entirely'
jinu leaves the bracelet she gave him on her grave and accepts gwimas offer. because of how much of his life was centered on eunjung, he is left with only the memory of the nightmare he had about abandoning his family to live at the castle, not why he wanted to live in the castle in the first place, not why he started playing bipa, not anything from his own childhood, nothing real from his human life. only a false memory that gwima twists and embellishes, convincing jinu over centuries that he was always a selfish coward
for hundreds of years, all he knows about the hunters is what the other demons talk about: how their songs sealed gwima out of the human world and now they are his slaves. all he knows about himself is from that nightmare: poor, starving, willing to abandon his family for comfort and success. he doesnt know he was in love with one of the hunters, or that he was ever anything but selfish
...until his humanity is restored to him, by rumis connection with him. he is freed from gwimas control and memory suppression (by gwima killing him and thus nullifying his contract with him), and he (now nothing more than a soul) realizes that rumi is the soulmate he had been missing for so long without realizing it
now he just has to figure out how to be with rumi as an actual person, and not just as her sword
4. things z did not make up, that are canon to the movie
... or at least would have been canon if not for executive meddling (rip isac scene, you will always be remembered)
rumi wore a sleeveless dress to an idol awards show celine took her to as a child, and did not have visible patterns. this could have been makeup celine put on her before going out into public, but it could just as easily have been before any patterns started appearing on rumis skin
rumis moms name on her gravestone was ryu miyoung (류 미영)
rumi plays guitar. this was actually one of the first facts that made me want a reincarnation au, because i imagined her being drawn to learn guitar because of her past life connection with a handsome bipa player who might have taught her how to play it in secret (i cant find any screenshots of her actually PLAYING her guitar, and i cant take one myself, thanks netflix and their imho excessive drm, so we have to settle for it in her room on its stand, by the balcony windows. its just past her right side, in front of the curtains, mostly hidden by the bed)
the first hunters saved a mother with a pitchfork and her daughter whose soul illuminated when she made eye contact with one of them, and that mom and daughter looked A LOT like jinus memories of his mother and sister
the first hunters had a member who had a bow and arrow, and a long braid
like the archer in the first hunter group, rumi has a pauldron on her right shoulder as part of her 'golden' outfit
not quite AS canon, because it got scrapped due to executives not knowing what isac is, but rumi and jinu were originally gonna be doing archery together while talking about her patterns and how much she hates them, rather than signing autographs
"That [scene] eventually became a fan signing event. But, for a very long time, they had Rumi and Jinu doing archery, as they were having that conversation." [source: Forbes, ‘KPop Demon Hunters’ Director On Getting K-Pop Culture Down]
5. secret bonus content
sequel title: TIED (together in every dream)
or, a kpop demon hunters missing scene / missing first person narration / missing context / etc movie novelization meets fix it fic
it was fun when i did it for ofmd, might as well try doing it for this one too
threequel title: BOND (before our nights disappear)
or, a kpop demon hunters previous generation flashback fic that follows the relationship between miyoung and her demon husband, and also follows rumi meeting her father and getting his help bringing her soulmate back to life
because i accidentally put too much development into miyoung and byungho to never write about them
